Build in Public Mistakes
Building in public is powerful, but doing it wrong can hurt your brand, bore your audience, or even scare off customers. Here are the mistakes to avoid.
Sharing every tiny update
"Fixed a CSS bug" and "Updated dependencies" are noise, not signal. Your audience loses interest. What to do instead: Share meaningful updates: revenue milestones, strategic decisions, customer stories, lessons learned. Quality over quantity.
Only sharing wins
A highlight reel isn't building in public - it's marketing. People follow journeys, including the hard parts. What to do instead: Share failures, challenges, and uncertain decisions. Vulnerability builds deeper connections and engagement.
Oversharing financial details
Exact revenue down to the penny, customer names, or pricing experiments can be used by competitors. What to do instead: Share general ranges or rounded numbers. "Crossed $5K MRR" is more than enough - you don't need to show exact cents.
Not having a content strategy
Random updates without structure feel chaotic. Followers don't know what to expect from you. What to do instead: Create a simple weekly rhythm: Monday goals, Friday recap, one thread per week. Predictability builds an audience.
Forgetting to connect updates to your product
If your BIP content never mentions what you build, you're growing a personal brand without product awareness. What to do instead: Every few updates, connect the story back to your product. "This is why we built [feature]" or "Try it yourself: [link]"
Building in public to avoid building the product
Tweeting about what you plan to build isn't building. At some point, you need to ship. What to do instead: Set a ratio: for every hour of content, spend 4 hours building. The product is the content.
Not engaging with your audience's responses
Building in public is a conversation, not a broadcast. Ignoring replies defeats the purpose. What to do instead: Reply to every comment. Ask follow-up questions. The best product ideas come from BIP conversations.
Comparing yourself to bigger builders
"They have 50K followers and $100K MRR" is demoralizing and irrelevant to your journey. What to do instead: Compare yourself to where you were last month. Share YOUR numbers, not relative to anyone else.
Stopping when growth slows
Growth plateaus are normal. Stopping means losing the compounding effect of consistent sharing. What to do instead: When growth slows, experiment with new content formats. Try threads, polls, or deeper case studies. Don't stop.
Not building an email list alongside BIP
Social media followers aren't your asset. A platform change or algorithm update can erase your audience. What to do instead: Regularly promote your newsletter or email list. "Want deeper updates? Join my email list: [link]"
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